Arturia AstroLab Packs A Complete Synth Studio Into A Single Keyboard

Arturia has introduced AstroLab, a new stage keyboard that brings the company’s massive line of virtual instruments to standalone hardware.

AstroLab features 10 sound engines, 34 instruments and over 1300 presets, letting you cover a huge range of sounds using a single instrument.

This means that – in a single keyboard – it gives you access to acoustic sounds, like piano and strings; classic stage piano sounds, like Rhodes, Wurli and Clavinet; vintage synths sounds, like CS-80, DX7, Emulator II & Jupiter-8; organ sounds, like B-3 and Farfisa; string synth sounds, like Solina; West Coast and East Coast modular sounds; and more.

AstroLab’s concept combines Arturia’s ‘Lab keyboards, V Collection instruments & sound banks into a holistic system.

The Arturia AstroLab gives you instant access to presets from a 34 instruments, including:

  • ARP2600 V
  • Augmented GRAND PIANO
  • Augmented STRINGS
  • Augmented VOICES
  • B-3 V
  • Buchla Easel V
  • Clavinet V
  • CMI V
  • CS-80 V
  • CZ V
  • DX7 V
  • Emulator II V
  • Farfisa V
  • JUN-6 V
  • JUP-8 V
  • KORG MS-20 V
  • Matrix 12 V
  • Mini V
  • Modular V
  • OP-Xa V
  • Piano V
  • Pigments
  • Prophet-5 V
  • Prophet-VS V
  • Sampler
  • SEM V
  • Solina V
  • SQ80 V
  • Stage-73 V
  • Synclavier V
  • Synthi V
  • Vocoder V
  • Vox Continental V
  • Wurli

Here’s the official AstroLab overview:

Features:

  • 61-note semi-weighted keyboard with piano-size keys and aftertouch
  • 10 sound engines
    • Virtual Analog
    • Samples
    • Wavetable
    • FM
    • Granular
    • Physical modelling
    • Vector Synthesis
    • Harmonic
    • Phase distortion
    • Vocoder
  • Over 1300 in-built sounds
    • More than 10.000 sounds via Arturia software
  • Navigation wheel & screen for easy browsing
  • 10 Preset Buttons for quick sound access
  • 4 macro controls for quick editing
    • Brightness
    • Timbre
    • Time
    • Movement
  • 12 insert FX
  • 4 dedicated knobs to control FX including dedicated Delay/Reverb
  • Multis/Keyboard Split
  • MIDI IN i/o, balanced stereo input, sustain, expression, aux 1 & 2 pedals
  • USB-C connection and USB-A host
  • Bluetooth audio input and WiFi for wireless control
  • Arpeggiator, MIDI Looper, Chord & Scale modes

Arturia AstroLab Demo:

Pricing and Availability:

Arturia AstroLab is available now for $1999 USD.

12 thoughts on “Arturia AstroLab Packs A Complete Synth Studio Into A Single Keyboard”

  1. Arturia now has one of the coolest keyboard lineups of anybody. This looks cool, the microFreak is amazing for the price, the MatrixBrute is one of the best monosynths ever designed, and PolyBrute looks great, too.

  2. Something that’s not clear to me from the videos is how this works with V Collection and your DAW. Can you use this as a virtual instrument in your DAW? Does this control V Collection in your DAW?

    1. Basically if you buy this for €1600 you get a bunch of V Collection presets with a few Macro controls assigned to “commonly used” parameters

      But you can’t edit the presets “in depth”. They are fixed.

      Unless you pay another €600 for V Collection which gives you the ability to make presets in the plugins, save them to the Astrolab software and then upload them to the Astrolab

      Sounds clunky. Almost certainly is clunky

      For €1600 you should really be getting the V Collection thrown in for free

      Or at the very least a really nice discount voucher

      1. I agree with this sentiment. The V collection should be deeply discounted given that you NEED them in order to edit patches.

      2. One guess is that many of the target market already have V Collection. It is not so expensive on a discount day so I think a lot of people who need those sounds already have it. And then if V Collection was included, they will be complaining that they’re having to buy it again.

        Arturia do fancy reductions for people who already own stuff so it is quite possible that Astrolab owners will often get big reductions on V Collection.

  3. It looks like this will be a killer stage keyboard. I’m hoping that GC will get this in, because I need to see how this feels in person before I’m going to want to drop $2k on a keyboard.

  4. For live use, I wonder how one can organize the sounds chosen for a set. I’m used to be able to rename sounds on my Nord and arrange them in the order of the set. I do the same on my MacBook using Gig Performer and Arturia V-Collection.

  5. When I first saw the headlines, I thought it might be an Arturia version of the MPC Keys. That is, I expected to have full editing access to all the synths in the hardware. Someday I hope they make that too. This looks like it could be great for players who perform out, but not much use for home/studio tweakers.

  6. I wasn’t let down by any hype, because I had not speculated on what they were about to release.
    But the product they released, I think has several of issues.

    It should have had a larger display, and controls without having a specified function labelled as the top function of them.

    I accept that as a stage keyboard, you don’t need that many real-time controls. as long as you can design sounds in the computer. And in this case, bring sounds you have already designed in to the hardware.
    So I am fine with it not attempting to be a synth with myriads of hardware controls, to fully control the synth engines below the front panel.

    But on the other hand in the case of Arturia, there is another issue.
    If I am looking for a stage keyboard, with limited real-time controls, I would want to have a very varied collection of sounds, with bread and butter sounds.
    This is mostly a synth sound playback device. And if it is mostly synth sounds I would play on the hardware, then I would like it to feel like a synth.

    So it misses the mark.
    It is neither a good stage keyboard, with a good selection of sounds, and with a thought through control panel. Nor is it a hardware synth for arturia software.

    They are closer to the first, but the display, and the labelled buttons, restrict it from ever being really good at that, no matter what collection of sounds they may add in the future.

    And then according to some reviews, the keybed isn’t that impressive either.
    And the load time, isn’t great.
    And the polyphony is limited.

    So I hav no idea why they released this product in todays world.
    A macbook air, and a good controller, cost less, and is way more flexible and usable, offers better polyphony and quicker load times.

    I wish they would focus on a modular software. That was the part of their origin that was most interesting, not the fact that it could run limited pre-made instruments, with a limited amount of controls.
    And I wish they would focus on emulating more interesting hardware. There isn’t enough new stuff in each release of the V collection, and typically for most people there is at most one of the new products that are interesting. If they went down the modular route, getting access to parts of each new instrument, could make it more interesting, even if they new instrument as a whole might not be.
    And where are their collection of drum machines, to complete the vintage hardware collection.
    And if they think stage keyboards is an area to focus on, they should expand their catalogue to include more bread and butter sounds.

  7. The arturia analog laboratory keylab [original 61 keyboard] had more onboard [knobs/sliders] & is built like a tank. I still use today. Not sure about that tiny round LED screen. LED screens are so cheap today. The overall price for this keyboard seems dramatic. But cudos Arturia for trying something new.

  9. This is cool and all but give us a new MicroBrute. The Microbrute was discontinued but wr have not gotten a Micro Brute 2 yet….come on!

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